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Flemington Manifold Stakes Day

January 13th, 2018 1 comment

I arrive nice and early for the first race, the two-year-olds. Only seven runners and I find that I have crossed six out. So I go for Train The Brave. The horse showed no courage and finished a disappointing fifth of the seven. In the second there are six horses, half of them from DK Weir, so I leave the race alone. In the third Jacquinot Bay is a standout, totally relaxed. But $1.50 the place for a ten-year-old? You must be kidding! Of course, the geriatric brains them! And now, look, the pages of my race book are starting to crinkle from the light rain. In the fourth they are an even lot of three-year-old fillies, and I can’t really sort them. But my straw hat is starting to sag and it too is complaining about the rain. I check the Melbourne radar and it is clearly not going to improve. I decide discretion is the better part of valour and head off home. A pretty miserable start to the year. The streak is definitely over!

 

One Response to “ Flemington Manifold Stakes Day ”

  1. Bruce W says:

    In Sydney, Thaad in R4 was relaxed, head down, and squeaked into 3rd at $3.40 on BF. Vaucluse Bay in R9 also looked very relaxed. He finished strongly but was always too far back. The stewards report said trainer Chris Waller notified them before the race that he expected a fast pace and wanted the horse ridden quietly. Well laid plans of mice and men. When a horse is ready to run a good race, maybe it’s best to let it run to its normal pattern (normally towards the front in this case). Mr Waller should have consulted me first! In Melbourne, I also noticed Train The Brave (on my iPhone TV) but held back because it seemed to be a behaviour type I’ve been seeing lately that puzzle me: head down and not still, but stretching the neck. Is the head down because it’s relaxed or is it down because it’s a natural motion in trying to avoid the bit? Some of these run well but just as many run badly. I don’t know what to think. I prefer the head to be fairly still when it’s down. I ignored the relaxed Jaquinot Bay because old codgers are entitled to look relaxed and usually start searching for the walking stick about the 200m. Serves me right. He got out to nearly $1.80 the place on BF in the last 30 seconds of betting. Geoffrey should have stuck around and might have got his money back. Dollar For Dollar looked very relaxed in R7 and paid $1.80 for 3rd. Because of the huge fields at the Gold Coast I paid attention to Gawler on racing.com and spotted Modulate in R3, very relaxed and dawdling. He won strongly and paid $2.00 the place.

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